Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-01-25

been printed before, she says; AT
daybreak on the morning OF December
10th I was awakened at my hotel
in Leadville and informed that
the Aspen stage-cosch was wait
ing for me. II was bitter cold,
and was showing 30 densely that
the driver had to pilot me TO the coach.
had on heavy, double-fold velvet
dress, q sesl-skin sacque, buffalo-robe
pinned over my shoulders, my head
covered by q fur cap, and my face en-
veloped in shawl, allowing an aper-
ture for my eyes. Despite all these
projections I was frightfuly cold. The
coach WA drawn by six horses and was
on wheels. We were preceded by the
Granite coach, which was on runners.
The road over Elk mountain Is natu-
raj one, that will admit of but single
coach passing At the apex of the noun
tain the Granite coach halted in the sta
ton blasted ont of the rock, and allowed
Ms TO 90. ahead. Here the descent be
gan. The road at this point runs ut an
incline of forty-five degrees. The
driver put on his lock-chain to the
wheels, thus virtually converting them
into runners. The vehicle, despite
these precautions, and by its own
weight, went down at frightful rate
We could barely keep our seats. We
balanced ourselves az best we could.
Runningup from the truck, and through
the box of the coach, was perpendic-
ular bar of steel called the king pin. |
chung to this, and managed to keep
myself right side up. Down the narrow
path in the side of the mountain We
went, with the horses in mad gallop,
TO keep the coach from running them
down. We were rounding Independ-
ence pass, when suddenly the driver
cried:
Jump Jump for your
He never finished the sentence. He
had been holding the coach ms near the
embankment as the narrow pass would
permit. Ahead of him he saw heavy
boulder topple and fall down the noun
tain side and into the path. This caused
him to make the cry of warning. The
obstruction was but twenty yards ahead
of him, and it was beyond human
power to stay the impetus the coach had
gotten coming down the incline. | SAW
the driver leap. Inside we all held on to
the king-pip. Down We went, and in
another instant the forward wheels
struck the rock. The hind part of
the coach was thrown forward
and outward, and the king-pin
snapped asunder like reed. The
box, with all i'll it, went over the pre-
cipice on its side, and through the win
dow i fell out. Less fortunate than my
self, the coach and my fellow-tourists
lodged in crevice on the side of the
precipice 1870 feet below the road. |
was thrown out with such force that |
cleared this crag and kept on and down
the full 400 feet TO the bed of the canon
and into bank of snow, cutting my
way into it, as if it was water, head first
The Granite coach, Just to the rear o,
us, pulled into notch in the rocks
and the driver and some prosf
pectors got out and began to
climb down to where | had lodged
Armed with shovels, they began
to digme out, and, it is curious to relate,
the one flesh wound | received was
from the blade of a shovel, which
ploughed up furrow in my ankle when
they reached me. | was finally dug
out unconscious, and. to all appear
ances. dead. Restoratives were admin
iste.ef and | was taken up and carried
to the dollhouse at the head OF the cliff.
Here my hands and limbs were rubbed
and my face slapped until my cheeks
were raw. But all to no avail. | was
black in the face, and there was no audi
BILE or visible respiration. ! was left in
the care of the toll-keeper and the
Granite coach passengers, while the
two drivers started for Aspen, thirteen
miles distant, to summon surgical and.
One of the party returned at midnight
with doctor. In the mean time | had
revived and had, in company with the
toll-keeper, gone down in a sleigh 20 the
dinner Station, three miles below, and
was administering to the wounded and
diving. All of the rest had sustained
frightful injuries in their fall of $50
feet, while /, falling over twice the dis
lance, came out of the disaster sustain
ing no other injuries than bruise in
Hicted by the shovel.